In March of 2009, and agin in 2013, I went up to Beus Pond in Ogden, to try out my new 500mm telephoto lens. This lens is probably the sharpest lens made by Canon, anyway that is what many Photo Reviewers say. It is definitely the sharpest lens I own. This Lens has the Canon USM automatic focus and Image Stabilization. It is also the most powerful telephoto lens I have, where my camera pushes it to 800mm equivlent, but it is very large and heavy. I seldom have to use a tripod, but usually do use at least a monopod. I can hand hold it for a few moments, like getting pictures of birds in flight, but the weight is enough to prefer something solid to support it. I chose to buy Canon's 500mm rather than the 600mm because of the fact that it is hand holdable when necessary. Don't know of anyone that hand holds that 600mm lens.

What I was interested in photographing up close, was the American Wood Ducks and Chinese Mandarin Ducks. The Chineses Mandarin ducks I added in March of 2013. This early in the year the wood ducks are still wintering at Beus Pond, and they still have all their bright feathers. In summer they molt and loose most of these bright colors. I wasn't disappointed, finding many ducks still there, but only one pair of Mandarin Ducks. Mandarin's are quite rare here in this country. They are mostly found in China and Japan in the winter, and Russia in the summer. I also photographed some Mallards and Canadian Geese at the pond. It was still quite cold the first week of March, as you can see by the ice and the way I was dressed. But cold does help get bright sharp photos.

That's me shooting with the 500mm lens

I did something new with the photo pages in this group. I made it so you can see them full screen size. Though I guess it depends on your screen resolution what size you will actually get. For all my other pictures I kept the larger photos to 750 ppi for faster loading, but these close-up shots of the ducks and geese have so much detail, that I thought some of you would like to see them at a larger size.